Two speakers, not four; no Face ID; non-Pro design; 1st-gen Pencil support only

Price

From £479

9 / 10

Apple

You could justifiably argue that the iPad family has grown to the point where it needs to pack up and find a bigger house. Just look at the line-up.

There's the the new Mini, the iPad, this new iPad Air and the two iPad Pros. That's five different models for a product category that isn't exactly setting the world alight right now – though, credit where it's due, Apple grew iPad sales in the last year.

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This means that someone wandering into their local Apple Store (or browsing online) can now spend anything from £319 all the way up to £1,869 for an iPad, depending on its stripe, which is in itself almost crazy.

Still, Apple thinks there's more than enough room for the new Air, which comes in from £479, not a great leap from the vanilla iPad and new Mini. And while adding another tablet to the range reasonably close to the iPad price point seems initially odd, this could in fact be the Air's greatest USP: it might just be the best iPad available to the average user – not the cheap option, just the best value one.

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Yep, the new Air looks set to be the Goldilocks iPad. You get a massive bump in specs from the existing iPad, a lot of the functionality of the Pros and all for only a slight bump in price. All in all that makes it more than palatable. Almost delicious.

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Basics

Right, let's get down to how to use an iPad. Actually, let's not. You know how to use an iPad. The Air works just like any other iPad. OK? Good.

The basic specs are very similar to the new Mini. The iPad Air display has Apple's P3 wide colour display and the excellent True Tone technology that auto-adjusts colour temperature, which are both wins over the standard iPad, but not the ProMotion tech of the Pros, which delivers lovely refresh rates of up to 120Hz for fluid scrolling, greater responsiveness and smoother motion content.

The 10.5-inch screen is noticeably bigger than the iPad's 9.7in, and its laminated, which means basically no air gap, equalling a much better picture. The screen on the Air is top-notch, you shouldn't have any issues with it at all.

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You get the A12 Bionic chip with Neural Engine, a bump up from the A10 Fusion chip in the iPad, for much better performance and graphics, which in essence means that you can throw a lot at the Air without it breaking sweat. Load up 3D games? No problems. Hard core Adobe Photoshop? Likewise. Indeed, Apple is claiming a 70 per cent boost in performance and twice the graphics capability for the Air. Battery life? More than you will need, unless you want to go really heavy with applications.

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Cameras? There’s the same 8MP f/2.4 camera on the rear as you will find on the new Mini, with auto HDR and autofocus, with (just like on the Mini again) an upgraded 7MP f/2.2 front camera (compared to the iPad's 1.2-megapixel offering), which does indeed visibly sharpen up those video calls and selfies.

What else? Let's see. Oh, you get an actual headphone jack. How quaint! Audiophiles and purveyors of cheap headphones will rejoice.

Pencil power

Apple

As with the Mini, and the existing iPad, many will welcome the news that the Air supports Apple’s 1st-gen Pencil. Now, this is quite the boon for the creative types and obsessive note-takers. It means you can do considerably more with the tablet than any competitors that don't accommodate such accessories. So now annotating PDFs or jotting down missives on the Air is a cinch, and you can delve into those bespoke apps that have Pencil support, such as Procreate.

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But while the stylus addition is most welcome, what isn't of course is that fact that its the wrong stylus. The 1st-gen Pencil looks clunky and half-baked next to the lovely 2nd gen Pencil. The initial version rolls off tables with far too much ease, the magnetic end that protects the lightning connector gets lost, you have to physically stick the stylus into the lightning port to charge it, for heaven's sake.

The 1st gen Pencil shows how easily we fall out of love with a product when something clearly better comes along. The second Pencil is better in every way, with its touch-sensitive sides, magnetic charging and anti-roll design. Don't get us wrong, we're happy to have Pencil support, but we're also fickle and want the best Pencil we can get.

Speaking of which, rather than go for the Apple Pencil 1 here, you may want to try out the Logitech Crayon instead. It's cheaper and won't roll off every flat surface with abandon. However, though it has palm rejection and tilt support, it doesn’t offer pressure sensitivity. And the battery life isn't as long... but that's why it's cheaper.

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Smart Keyboard & Touch ID

Another real plus for the Air is the support for Apple's Smart Keyboard, thanks to the inclusion of the Smart Connector at the side. I am a big fan of the Smart Keyboard, it's infinitely preferable to a Bluetooth keyboard, as you'd need to use with the iPad, as there's no pairing nor batteries needed (plus if doubles as a cover).

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For such a slim keyboard the keys on Apple's proprietary accessory travel surprisingly well and give more than enough feedback for fast typing. If you take screen size out of the equation, this is the key differentiator between the iPad and Mini and the Air. While the Mini might have got almost as much love in the refresh as the Air, only the Air gets the Smart Keyboard of the two.

What none have is Face ID, of course. Anyone who has used Face ID on the new iPhones or Pro iPads knows how fast this tech has got, and how quickly you become used to it. Should we therefore be a little miffed about having to make do with Touch ID here on the Air?

The iPhone 5S from 2013 was the first phone to feature Touch ID technology. It's no surprise then that it feels almost like a step backwards having to open your brand new iPad Air with a fingerprint rather than simply glancing at that 10.5in screen.

The tech we're talking about here is now six years old. And, of course, you can understand that Apple needs to obviously separate what the Pros can do compared to the Air, but another effect is that by having to make room for that Touch ID sensor it means the Air has chunky, unsightly bezels on the top and bottom of the tablet, rather than the svelte lines of the Pros.

Style and sound

Apple

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This brings us to the clear design differences between the Air and the Pros. Remember what I was saying about how quickly one can fall out of love with a product when a better version comes along? The Air's design, being very much in the Mini and iPad camp with its angled sides and home button, is just not as good-looking as the new Pro design.

It's shallow and facile, but put the iPad Pro next to the Air with its clean flat sides and bezel-free screen and it's like the time when the iPhone 4 was introduced and made the 3GS go from looking like regular Joey to Joey when he puts on all Chandler's clothes. If aesthetics are important to you, and you're reading an Apple product review here so am guessing that's a strong possibility, this is certainly something to consider.

The other major visual difference is that when you look at the sides of the Air you'll clearly see there are two speaker grilles not four, as on the Pros. The sound on the 12.9in iPad Pro is very good – much better than it should be.

Now, no matter what the DSP wizards get up to, you're not going to make the Air's two speakers sound as good as the Pro's four. And this is the case, it's one of the few noticeable concessions when going down from the Pro to the Air, and while it's something you get used to, you never quite forgive the Air for it.

Verdict

But, in truth, this is being harsh on the Air. Perhaps the reason I want it to have absolutely all the features of the Pro iPads is because it reminds me so much of the top two in the lineup. It's tantalisingly close to the offerings of the 11in iPad Pro.

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Apple itself classes the Air, not as a PC replacement, as it sees the Pros being, but for the user not quite needing all the bells and whistles delivered by the Pro pads. But in reality the Air is no halfway house between the iPad and the 11in iPad Pro – it's much closer to the latter in performance and ability. Yes, you have the first Pencil, the "old" design, no Face ID, only two speakers and no USB-C to contend with, but you should be thinking about what you do get.

The Air represents tremendous value compared to the iPad Pros. You get almost all the performance, the Smart Keyboard, a superb screen and Pencil integration, all for much, much less that the Pros. The case for the Air is so compelling it practically negates the need for the vanilla iPad and only makes the question mark over why you should pay top dollar for the iPad Pro loom larger.

It really is, right now, the Goldilocks iPad. If money is not issue, you should go for the Pros. But money is rarely never an issue. If I had to recommend which iPad to fork out for in the current line-up, it would be this one.

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